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PIM Features

• Includes a multicast forwarding engine with clear separation between the control (routing) and multicast forwarding planes
• Provides support for inter-domain routing between PIM-SM and PIM-DM
• Provides support for multiple components where each component can act in either dense or sparse mode
• Implements the Reverse Path Forwarding (RPF) algorithm
• Builds and maintains the Rendezvous Point (RP), rooted shared trees (multicast delivery trees) using periodic and triggered Join/ Prune messages
• Supports switching from RP tree to the Shortest Path (SP) tree when a particular source generates heavy traffic
• Adapts to unicast route changes
• Can be configured as Bootstrap Router (BSR), and propagates RP-Set information into the network
• Conforms to the IETF standards in RP and BSR elections
• Can be configured as Candidate RP (C-RP), and informs the CRP information periodically to the BSR of the domain
• Supports configuration as Candidate-RP independently on each interface
• Supports regular housekeeping functions, such as Neighbor Discovery and Timeout
• Supports operation under multi-access networks by suppressing and overriding of join/prunes and electing a single forwarder through Asserts in both Sparse and Dense modes. Supports operation over point-to-point interfaces
• Supports Graft messages and Graft acknowledgement messages for faster convergence in a Dense mode network
• Components can interoperate between each other using the rules specified in the RFC2715 and each component can function independently, which indicates complete component independence
• Supports Prune Rate-limiting in case of Dense mode operation
• Provides well-defined APIs to interface with any IP/IGMP router software
• Provides support for the MIB in the RFC 2934
• Supports proprietary MIB for easier and better configuration
• Provides open interfaces for management using SNMP, CLI, or other management software
• Provides clear interfaces to use hardware chipsets for multicast forwarding in case of Dense mode operation
• Implements the Generation Identifier (GenID), which is required to rebuild the multicast forwarding state, when a router goes offline and restarts
• Highly portable code that uses flexible buffer and timer management libraries

Last updated : June 14, 2006